“This is total devastation,” said Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for Puerto Rico’s governor. “Puerto Rico, in terms of the infrastructure, will not be the same. … This is something of historic proportions.”

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US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said the damage to St. Croix is especially alarming.

“First priority is going to be saving of lives — not just in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands — I’m especially concerned with St. Croix, that was also in the path of Hurricane Maria when it was a Category 5 hurricane,” Zukunft said Wednesday.

On the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas, retired New York police detective Austin Fields surveyed the damage to his home.

“My home is no longer a home,” he said.

On Dominica, which Maria smashed earlier this week, the devastation is immense, a CNN crew flying over the island reported. Hundreds of homes have been visibly flattened or damaged. Many had roofs torn off.

The landscape has been stripped bare. Thousands of trees have been snapped at their base and those still standing devoid of leaves. Dominica was a lush green landscape, including rainforests, but now is brown and lifeless.

Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic under the gun

Maria’s wrath is far from over.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and parts of the Dominican Republic, where strong winds are expected to hit Wednesday night, forecasters said.

Dangerous storm surges “accompanied by large and destructive waves” will raise water levels 10 to 15 feet above normal tide levels in the hurricane warning areas of the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, the hurricane center said. The islands could also see as much as 20 inches of rain.

‘First responders cannot go out there’

Maria became the first hurricane of Category 4 strength or higher in 85 years to make a direct landfall on Puerto Rico, home to 3.3 million people.

The hurricane slammed the US territory with such intensity, it broke two National Weather Service radars there.